Despite voting consistently, which is a departure from what I had done say, five years ago, I've gotten back increased taxes, crumbling infrastructure and some lectures from the PR representatives for local politicians that I have "too many opinions" and should just shut up and be ruled. I've also received condescending remarks from Austin-based political consultants, insults from local precinct chairs and subtweets and offline disparagements from low-level politicos from both my chosen party and the opposition. It seems the only thing politicos don't like is people who won't make a campaign donation voicing their opinion.
I've also gotten back-to-back "random" (*cough*) selections to jury duty. Which is a waste of a day in reality.
During my decade plus (I started blogging on this platform in July 2004, and had a LiveJournal prior to that since 2002) blogging local politics I've been active politically to varying degrees. For a while, I left the Republican party because I just really didn't have much in common with them. Then, I reclaimed my Republican identity despite not really ever feeling welcome in a party whose "big tent" has shrunk to the size of a teepee.
Not that the Democrats are any better. While Republicans are currently wallowing in a sea of ideological purity the party of the Donkey is fighting to see which side is the most aggrieved. The Democrats are currently a loose collection of Social Justice Warriors who go through the political process hoping to find offense. They're an endless land of groupthink, blockquoting and name-calling, of outrage manufactured to forward one agenda or another or, most probably, to get a certain candidate elected whose economic ideals advance the financial interests of the party loyalists.
The problem is that, currently, both Republicans and Democrats are being duped. Part of it is due to the unserious nature of the American Electorate, and its ability to be fooled at almost every turn. This duping by ruling class has gone on for a long time of course, typically however it's been most evident at the Congressional level, where gerrymandering and elaborate incumbent protection fund-raising "ethics" rules serve only to prop up the power of incumbency. The business of getting elected is to get reelected after all. Because of this Americans have, for a long time, allowed themselves to be duped by do-nothing politicians which has allowed Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and John McCain to remain gainfully employed. Hell, Strom Thurmond spent his entire life working this system.
Due mainly to term limits established under the 22nd Amendment our Presidential politics was always a bit clearer. If there were horrible actors they typically were identified within 4 years and shown the door. (Granted, this wasn't always the case)
We all realize that Obama's claims of a better nation, economic well-being and International strength are bunk, but we let him lie to us due to a variety of reasons. For Democratic Partisans, it's because admitting the man is making a hash of things means that you, and your party, selected incorrectly and the policies that you have been promoting came with a host of unintended consequences that you didn't foresee. In short: your ego won't allow you to admit you've goofed. For moderates, you can't admit that you voted for Obama because he seemed cooler than buttoned-up, Mormon Mitt Romney. To be fair however, there's little evidence that Romney would have presided akin to Reagan after Carter, but he would have been an improvement in almost all areas.
For Republicans who oppose Obama because....well because, it was impossible to even admit that the ACA could have been improved greatly simply by adding a low-cost, high-deductible option. Granted, this wouldn't have been a cure-all, but it would have solved some of the more basic problems.
Now we get to the election for Obama's successor, and it looks like we're being asked to play a game of "would you rather". Because we've let our expectations for the office drop so low, and because we've settled for President's Bush (II) and Obama for almost 16 years now, we have come to believe that the following group of front-runners is something to be proud of.
Hillary Clinton: A mess of a candidate who considers herself so elite that she has to debase herself to speak with the elite. A politician whose main qualification for office is that she was married to a guy. Yes, she was Senator and the Secretary of State, positions with which she accomplished nothing of note, but even Her Holiness admits that being married to Bill is considered on-the-job training. Then there's the e-mail thing which, had it been investigated by Woodward and Bernstein, would have ran her our of office.
Bernie Sanders: If you 'feel the Bern' then you are admitting that you have zero financial literacy. His campaign is built on a financial fairy tale so vast it would cause the Brother's Grimm to genuflect in awe. If you think Obama's lecturing the country is painful, wait until 4 years of Sanders speeches really get rolling. He's widely seen as beating Clinton among the youth because he's "cooler" than her. In reality he's just promising to give them stuff with the understanding that they don't grasp the concept of "free".
Donald Trump: A reality-TV Presidential candidate for a reality-TV age. Trump is proof that there are Republicans alive who would consider voting for Benito Mussolini* if he messaged correctly. Trump is a Statist, Elitist Democrat who has decided to run as a Republican because he realizes there is a portion of the base that can be pandered to. Some say his only conservative position is immigration. I disagree. Trump's immigration stance is Nationalistic, not traditionally conservative.
Ted Cruz: Cruz is proof that some in America will believe anything as long as the rhetoric is flowery enough. Cruz has now famously flipped on almost every major issue except one: He has always been solidly in favor of the 2nd Amendment. Cruz is Ivy League educated, but portrays himself as a common man. Cruz was smart enough to understand the weaknesses behind the Tea Party movement and exploit them all the way to the Senate, and possibly the Presidency.
Marco Rubio: In my mind, the best candidate, and the one I would have voted for had he not suddenly gone to crazy town on the issues. I was willing to hold my nose and ignore his support of sugar subsidies and I'm really not too far away from him on immigration. (I liked the ideas behind it but I didn't like the Group of Eight proposal itself due to many bad specifics). My problem is his support for a bill that would strip due process from a large group. I've never been a fan of "Something! Must be done." legislation and I'm not going to start now. Rubio is also a fan of invasive data collection practices. That's just a bridge too far for me.
After the top-tier is exhausted you're really stuck with selecting from the dregs. Politicians or fringe-business figures who are hoping beyond hope that they can use this run to, eventually, secure a cushy job providing TV punditry after they drop out of the race. The also-rans in this race are proof of case that there is a too-vast network of political consultants who would advise Charles Manson to run if they thought he had money.
The idea that there is going to be a winner here is laughable. Whoever wins election to the office of the Presidency of the United States of America becomes the avatar for our collective loss. We've lost our minds, our sense of reason and, if this group is any indication, our sense of good judgment as well. Given the sorry state, and focus, of what passes for media these days I chalk all of this up to our reliance on common sense.
Because of all this I'm seriously considering sitting this one out. I know what some of you will say: "If you don't vote, you can't complain" to which I reply "bullshit". There's no restriction placed on the 1st Amendment. Despite the fact that many politicians would like to do away with it, and the 2nd altogether, they're still working as intended.
Thank goodness for that. Because if our right to be offended, or to speak out against politicians, or to say "I'm not voting" goes away then it's not too long before it won't matter who we vote for because they'll all be doing nothing but parroting the same government line.
*No, I'm not saying that Republicans are fascist. They, like the Democrats certainly attract a small amount of fascist support, but overall neither party is full-on fascist. If you don't get the difference there I really can't help you, nor am I interested in trying to do so. And if using Ol' Benito as an example offends you then I ask you to politely start reading another blog.
